Twisted Metal: Black · 12:20am Jan 20th, 2021
I got the game for Christmas last year, and now that I’ve spent time in the figurative driver’s seat, here are my thoughts on it.
Let’s start off with the presentation. It’s bleak. It’s gritty. It’s scary. And it’s wonderful (in a way). There’s no extended cinematic intro when the game is started up; just blackness, the somber opening of “Paint It, Black” by The Rolling Stones... and then when you finally are shown something, it’s not pretty.
It’s chaos, but not the annoying-maybe-but-ultimately-not-harmful kind that Discord makes. No, this chaos is the destructive kind. Explosions. Deadly projectiles. Somebody’s clearly going to get injured. And it’s all frozen in a single moment in time, while the camera pans through it...
And stops right in front of the face of Needles Kane, his terrifying mask and flaming head taking up about a quarter of the screen. “Paint It, Black” stops and is replaced by the game’s unsettling main menu theme.
When choosing a game mode, the options are written in blood on the side of Needles’ truck. Every set piece of the menu, including the playable vehicles, is frozen in a single point of time. Choosing to view in-game info of the driver gives you a close-up of them, potentially revealing a disturbing detail or two (Yellow Jacket and Minion are great examples). With the music in the background, it’s equal parts creepy and cool.
As are the movie select posters. You have the option to view every unlocked character story cutscene (and the game’s credits video) whenever you’re in the main menu... and the movie select screen background consists of movie posters on a theater. All of them (except the credits) are rated UR (Unrated), and the designs, like the vehicle select screen, are equal parts creepy- and cool-looking.
The actual battleground music doesn’t disappoint, either; from Junkyard, to Suburbs, to Minion’s Stadium, to Snowy Roads, and everything in-between and after. Notably, almost every Story Mode level has three music tracks: a “battle” track that plays when there are 2+ opponents left and the player is in close proximity to any, an “ambient” track that plays when there are 2+ opponents left and the player is far away from any, and a “final” track that plays when there’s 1 opponent left.
There are exceptions: Snowy Roads and Drive-In Movie don’t have an Ambient track, and Minion’s Stadium and Warhawk’s Rooftop don’t have Ambient or Final tracks.
Favorite Battle track(s): Suburbs and Minion’s Stadium. Both are fast and frantic, and the latter is also loud and menacing.
Favorite Ambient track(s): Snowy Roads. Eerie and somber, almost Silent Hill-like, making you feel like you’re really stranded in a desolate environment. The music is also dissonant compared to the chaos that takes place in the level.
Favorite Final track(s): Snowy Roads. You’re still stranded in that desolate environment, but now you’re also in a deadly game of cat and mouse... and you’re not entirely sure if you’re the hunter or the hunted.
Now for the actual gameplay.
The devs evidently took advantage of the PS2’s greater capabilities versus the PS1, since TM:B runs at 60 fps (frames-per-second), cranking the gameplay pace way up compared to the first four games. Compared to TM2, you have very little time to plan out the trajectory of your projectiles; you’ve gotta know how it moves, and be able to make a decision on the fly. Especially when trying to land a hit on any opponent that isn’t a boss.
You see, with the exceptions of the bosses, the AI in this game behave in one of two ways: they either come at you, or run away from you. Trying to predict which one they’ll do is an exercise in futility, because they switch between these behaviors randomly. And if they’re attacking, they’re not guaranteed to back down if they’re in bad shape.
If they’re running, it can be annoying if the vehicle in question is particularly fast, since this behavior can drag out a battle. If they’re on the offensive, however... “challenging” is a good way to describe what it’s like on the player’s end.
I’ve only played two Twisted Metal games: Black and 2012. From my experience, Black is hands-down the harder of the two (at least, when both games are played on the lowest difficulty), in no small part because the AI are noticeably more aggressive. Twisted Metal veterans regard Black as the hardest game in the series.
And I’m still a newb at Twisted Metal as a whole. 
This is the first time I’ve ever knowingly jumped into the deep end of any video game (by which I mean, tried a new video game while knowing it’s difficult).
PP3 recommends that players new to Twisted Metal: Black (assuming they’re new to the series as a whole) use Outlaw; it has decent Speed and Control, solid Armor, and a reasonably strong Special Attack that’s also dead simple to use (and is one of the few that’s capable of hitting the final boss). From my own experience, that’s true, and from that same experience, Roadkill is also a great choice for novices if they’d prefer a faster vehicle (and are willing to accept the drawback of less health); the Special Attack isn’t as fire-and-forget, but it’s still simple to use (literally just aim, charge, and fire), does a solid amount of damage, and can hit the final boss.
Based on vehicle stats, Mr. Grimm is geared more towards skilled players: sky-high Speed, Control, and Special coupled with bottom-of-the-barrel Armor and a Special Attack that’s tricky to hit with.
The fast-paced gameplay and aggressive AI mean that, for someone with little to no prior experience with these games (i.e., me), the learning curve can be daunting. But if that curve is successfully negotiated, the reward is lots of fun, fast-paced, action-packed ass-kicking. 
Just watch out for Spectre and Roadkill, though. They’re the regular opponents that you’ll have to worry about the most by far, so take them out ASAP if you can. Or pick one of them as your vehicle so you don’t have to worry about facing the one you picked. Or play 2-Player Co-Op with a buddy and select Spectre and Roadkill as your vehicles to remove all chance of facing either one.
Or just do whatever you want to do; I can’t stop you. 
I have Twisted Metal Black and I mostly use Spectre and Roadkill. Both are my favorite. The other person I suggest watching out for is Manslaughter. He is a killer!